“To further contain the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, provincial governments across Canada have ordered the mandatory closure of all non-essential businesses and services.
One industry that is exempt from the mandatory closures, and therefore deemed essential, is the cannabis industry. All licensed cannabis producers and stores have so far been allowed to remain open, and, as such, there’s been quite the boom in cannabis sales. Until now, there has been no reported threat to cannabis supply chains, and cannabis stores and producers are responding to the COVID-19 crisis like other businesses, by increasing safety measures.
…Kevin Lea said: “I would suggest that there’s some hesitancy in terms of trying to launch anything new in the cannabis market right now. Although marketing in cannabis has been always tough as a result of various advertising restrictions, it’s even tougher when all the cannabis trade shows and events are cancelled. So, I think for both the people trying to launch new products as well as the secondary service providers in the cannabis industry, the potential of growth in 2020 is curtailed from that standpoint.
“Even for us as at Fuse Insurance, we drive a significant amount of our business through attending trade shows and networking events and with other people in the cannabis sector, but, of course, all of that is cancelled. It was something we were looking forward to at this time of year to help further accelerate our growth within the industry, but now we’re forced to use other profit acquisition models.”